Disinfecting or air-purifying apparatus



J. G. GOODHUE.

DISINFECTING 0R AIR PURIFYING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED mm. 1914. RENEWED AUG. 1,1919.

' Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JULIAN G. GOODHUE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNIVERSAL UTILITIES COMPANY ILLINOIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION ILLINOIS.

DISINFECTING OR AIR-PURIFYING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

Application filed April 2, 1914, Serial No. 828,979. Renewed'Augu st 1, 1919. Serial No. 314,725.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JULIAN Gr. GooDrrUE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Disinfecting or Air-' Purifying Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and. exact description, reference being had to the accompanying. drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to disinfecting or air purifying apparatus, and especially to a type of such apparatus in which'results are secured by spraying certain liquid substances into the atmosphere.

Prominent objects of the invention are to provide a simple and practical form ofdisinfecting apparatus; to reduce the cost of the same to a very low figure; to increase the efficiency; to secure ease and speed of manipulation, andespecially permit filling and refilling or charging the apparatus without other devices, such as pumps and the like; to reduce the number of parts and simplify the apparatus; to arrange for the advantageous use of the apparatusin connection with rooms, halls and other places of the sort in a highly advantageous mane neryand to secure the foregoing and other desirable-results in a simple and expeditious manner.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 isa vertical elevation taken on line 1-1 in Fig. 2 of a disinfecting apparatus embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same taken on line 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is aview of a detail of construction.

In the drawings I show an apparatus having an upper jar or vessel 1, and a lower jar or vessel 2, on which the upper vessel 1 is mounted. The lower vessel 2 has an opening in its top, which opening is bounded by-a downwardly extending annular flange 3. The upper jar or vessel 1 has its bottom pro.- vided with a tubular member 4, .a portion of which projects down. below thev bottom of said jar 1 and. enters and fits within the annular. flange 3.on.the jar 2 extending downws -fiewai'd thehebbeq -ofsaid iar- 2. ,A-Rerition of the tubular member 4 extends above the bottom of the jar 1, the upper end of said member being provided with a bridge portion 5. A valve stem or spindle 6 is arranged within the tubular member 4, being mounted in a bore or bearing formed in the bridge 5. A valve 7 is mounted upon the upper end of the spindle 6. A spring 8 surrounds the upper portion of the spindle 6, being interposed between the bridge 5 and the collar 9 mounted on the spindle 6. j The spring 8 tends to push downwardly upon the collar 9 and so normally force the spindle 6 downwardly so as tocause the valve 7 to close the upper open end of the tubular member 4.

The valve spindle 6 extends down below the lower end of the tube 4 so that the lower end of said spindle 6 will touch the bottom of the lower jar- 2. In fact the spindle 6 is of such length that when the jar 1 is in place upon the jar 2, as shown in Fig. 1, the spindle 6 will rest upon the floor of the jar 2, and the valve 7 will be elevated above the top of the tube 4 so as to open the latter. Thus it will be seen that when the jar 1 is in normal position, as shown, the valve 7 by opening the tube 4 will establish communication between the upper and lower jars, and also that when'the jar 1 is elevated the spring 8 will automatically cause the valve 7 to closetheupper end of the tube 4, and thereby close communication between the upper and lower. jar and also in effect close the orifice or opening at the bottom of the upper jar so as. to prevent the escape of liquid or other substance that might be in said jar. In this way it will be seen that the upper jar may be filled completely or partially by pouring liquid for example through the tube 4 when said jar is in a posi-- tion with the tube 4 at its upper end, in other words a position inverted from that shown in Fig. 1.' When thus fiilled as much as desired said jar may be turned upside down, that is into the position shown in Fig. 1, in which position the liquid will not run out because of the Valve7 being held against its seat by the spring 8. The jar 1 may thus be lowered to the position shown in Fig. 1, the tube member 4 being inserted into the opening formed by the annular flange-3, and. during this operationthelvalve:

7 will remain closed until the lower end of the member 4 is well through the opening 3 and the jar 1 is nearlyin its proper position. Just before said jar 1 reaches its final posi-- 5 tion, however, the lower end of the valve spindle 6 strikes the bottom of the jar 2, whereupon a further downward movement of the jar 1 will cause said valve 7 to open the port or opening at the upper end of the 10 tube 4, this taking place because the valve 7 remains stationary because of the spindle 6 striking the floor of the jar 2, whereas the jar 1 with the tube 4 continues to move downwardly until the final position is reached, as shown in the drawings. Thus it will be seen that the jar 1 and also the jar 2 may be filled without the assistance of any other device or apparatus such as a pump,

it being only necessary to remove the jar 1 and fill it and then put it back in position.

The jar 2, of course, may be filled to any desired extent before the jar 1 is put in position. The arrangement is particularly useful and I use it most generally in an apparatus in which it is desired to maintain the liquid level at a uniform height, this height being determined by the lower end of the tube 4 which marks the top of the liquid level. When the level of the liquid in the jar 2 falls below the bottom end of the tube 4 further liquid is admitted through said tube 4 from the upper jar 1. Thus the jar 1 will in time become emptied and require replenishing, and at such times the said jar 3 5 may be removed and refilled, and then placed back in position.

As a matter of further improvement I arrange so that the liquid may be drawn directly from the lower vessel 2 for disinfect-v ing purposes, and to such end make the lower jar 2 wider than the upper jar 1, so that there is a projecting end portion 10 which projects laterally to one side of the upper jar 1. This arrangement can readily be brought about by making the two jars 1 and 2 cylindric and makin the lower jar 2 of larger diameter than the upper jar 1, as shown in Fig. 2. As an arrangement for feeding directly from the reservoir appara- 0 tus comprising the jars 1 and 2, to an atomizer apparatus, I show a tube 11 extended through the top of the projecting portion 10 of the jar 2 and extending vertically from a point within the jar 2 upwardly to an atomizer arrangement which is held by and 1n connection with a bracket member 12, which is preferably made in the form of a closed housing, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The upper end of the tube 11 is bent lat orally to form a horizontal portion 14, and

this portion 14 is inclosed in a circular hubllke member 15, which is'adapted to fit within the semi-circular end portion 16 of the housing 12. The lower end of the tube 11 extends down somewhat below the level of the liquid in the jar 2, so that said lower end is immersed in said liquid, so that the tube 11 form'saliquid tube for the atomizer arrangement, the upper end of said tube extending up for direct atomizing or spraying purposes. Another tube 17 is also arranged in connection with and supported by the'housing 12, being conveniently extended into said housing from the side, as shown in Fig.

2. This tube 17 is understood to be connected with a suitable supply of compressed air orcwith some air compressing orair jet apparatus, such as an air pump or door check,

as for example by a rubber or'flexible tube 18, (Fig. 2). The air tube 17 is provided with a side aperture 19, (Fig. 3) which aperture is positioned in front of the end of the horizontal portion 14 of the tube 11, as well shown in said Fig. 3, and also as shown in Fig. 2. Thus an air jet passing through the tube 17 will be discharged through the aperture 19 and will cause liquid to be sprayed from the end of the atomizer tube 14. As

a preferred arrangement I provide two such constructions of atomizer, these having two tubes 11 extending up from the lower jar 2, and cooperating with two pipes 17, as shown in Fig. 2. Thus it will be seen-that the apparatus provides an atomizer construction and reservoir arrangement practically one instrumentality, and that the number of parts is therefore much out down and the cost of construction and maintenance much reduced. It will also be seen that any number of atomizer arrangements can be associated directly with a single reservoir ap-' paratus, thus affording simplification.

While the reservoir and atomizer arrange ment thus set forth may be used in any desired connection, I show as a matter of further improvement, a plan by which the same may be used in connection witha ventilating system, so that air in the ventilating system may be purified. As illustrative of such a plan, I show upper and lower mem 11o bers 20 and 21 respectively and a side membe-r22 of a ventilating box or duct in which airis understood to be passing as part of a ventilating scheme. The side "wall 22 is shown alongside-of a vertical member 23 which may serve as a bracket for the jars 1 and 2, and such member 23, as well as the side wall 22 of the ventilating box are pro-' vided wi h an aperture 24 directly opposite. the atomizer arrangements so that the atomizer or spraying action will takeplace into and through said aperture 24, as shown in Fig. 2, and into the interiorof the ventilating duct or box. Thus a direct spraying or atomizing action may be caused to take 1 place by apparatus at the. side and preferably immediately outside of the ventilating box to affect the air passing through said box. As a convenient means of support,

I show the reservoir apparatus supported by 0 ing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus of the class described comprising closed reservoir devices, one of said devices being provided with a tube which Ti; projects from said device, a valve provided 1n said tube, an aperture provided in the other of said reservoir devices to receive the tube, a member projecting from the tube, said member forming a means whereby the valve i is operated, said reservoirs being positioned with relation to each other to provide an offset portion to one of said reservoirs, a tube provided in the offset portion connecting with the interior of said reservoir, and an 1 air tube operatively connected with the last mentioned tube.

2. A pair of closed receptacles, one 1nounted upon the other, said receptacles having registering apertures, a valve mounted in one of said apertures, said receptacles being positioned with relation to each other to provide an offset portion to one of said reservoirs, a tube mounted in said offset and an air blast tube constructed to cooperate With the tube mounted in the offset.

8. A pair of receptacles positioned with relation to each other to produce an offset portion to one of said receptacles, a valve mounted in one of said receptacles operable to permit fluid to pass from one receptacle to the other when the same are positioned with relation to each other to produce said oflset, a tube provided in the offset portion of said receptacle, and an air tube cooperating' with the tube in said offset.

In witness whereof, I here-unto subscribe my name this 11th day of March, A. D. 1914.

JULIAN G. GOODHUE. WVitnesses:

A. LYDA J oNEs, HAZEL ANN JONES. 

